Top authors to attend seventh Emirates Airline Festival of Literature
Almasalla, ATP News- DUBAI,(WAM) – Prepare for a literary extravaganza with the launch of the 2015 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. Organisers of the Festival On MOnady confirmed an international roster of authors and celebrities who will be visiting Dubai to shine a beacon on literature and a vast range of other topics.
(1).png)
The Festival was officially launched last night at an evening reception for local authors, dignitaries, sponsors and partners at the InterContinental Hotel, which has been home to the Festival since 2009. More than 120 authors were announced for the five-day Festival, which, earlier this year, was voted Best Festival for the second time at the Middle East Event Awards.
The Festival, now in its seventh year, is part of the Emirates Literature Foundation and will take place in Dubai from 3 to 7 March, 2015. The Festival is organised under the patronage of Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and in partnership with Emirates airline and the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate’s dedicated Authority for culture, arts, and heritage.
"As a global airline that connects people to places, passions and opportunities, Emirates is proud to support this annual celebration of the written and spoken word. We believe the Festival of Literature is important for Dubai. It not only attracts visitors, but is also an embodiment of Dubai’s Expo 2020 host city promise to "connect minds, and create the future", by bringing the best ideas, and the best stories from all around the world to nourish minds and fire our imaginations. Emirates itself continues to work hard to keep our customers connected, inspired and entertained. We are now an airline of more than 230 aircraft, connecting people to new experiences across 147 destinations in 84 countries," said Mohammad Al Hashimi, Vice-President of Commercial Products at Emirates.
The 2015 programme will welcome a number of best-selling authors including award-winning Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Egyptian writer Nawal El-Saadawi, genre-defying author Jasper Fforde, Mohsin Hamid, who won critical acclaim for "How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia", David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas, which was adapted into a star-studded film, much-loved children’s writer and author of "WarHorse" Michael Morpurgo, Graeme Simsion, whose first novel, "The Rosie Project", became an instant worldwide success leading to an equally successful sequel and award-winning author of "The Book Thief" Markus Zusak.
Celebrities from around the world will be in attendance, including BBC presenter Anita Anand, traveller Charley Boorman, mathematician and scientist Lewis Dartnell, humanitarian Mukesh Kapila, Ms. Moneypenny Heather McGregor, rugby player turned adventurer Richard Parks, Ted Simon of Jupiter’s Travels, TV director and science journalist Simon Singh, and David Suchet, the man now synonymous with Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot.
The Festival has always highlighted poetry and in 2015 welcomes poets from around the world including John Agard from Guyana, Imtiaz Dharker, Yang Lian from China, Cuban poet Victor Rodriguez-Nunez and Welsh poet Owen Sheers at a special evening under the stars.
Thrilling mystery and crime comes to life in the books of Sophie Hannah, who has recently penned a new Hercule Poirot novel, renowned crime thriller writer Stuart MacBride, "No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency" author Alexander McCall Smith, and, from the borders of Scandinavia, a particulrarly delicious cold crime-writer Yrsa Siguroardottir.
For readers of non-fiction, the Festival’s history strand promises to be enlightening. "Lawrence in Arabia" author Scott Anderson will be in attendance as will Jung Chang, whose memoir "Wild Swans" was an instant best-seller, Bettany Hughes, who has written biographies of Helen of Troy and Socrates, and noted Arab historian Eugene Rogan, all with new titles in time for the Festival.
